The EUMA published photographs showing Kvien’s visit, saying that it was facilitated by the mission’s Forward Operating Base (FOB) in Ijevan.
The EUMA currently consisting of 100 or so observers and experts was launched at the request of the Armenian government in late 2022 with the stated aim of preventing or reducing ceasefire violations along the border with Azerbaijan.
Since its deployment the mission has carried out more than a thousand patrols along the restive Armenian-Azerbaijani border. The EUMA operates from six FOBs situated in towns of Armenia’s Syunik, Vayots Dzor, Gegharkunik and Tavush provinces.
The Azerbaijani takeover of Nagorno-Karabakh in September this year has raised more fears in Yerevan that Azerbaijan will invade Armenia to open a land corridor to its Nakhichevan exclave. Azerbaijan has also publicly raised the issue of “Soviet-era exclaves” in Armenia.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian urged Western powers to prevent Baku from “provoking a new war in the region” when he addressed the European Parliament in October.
EU foreign ministers on Monday gave the green light to a proposal to beef up the border-monitoring mission in Armenia. When the measure is submitted to the European Commission it will need to come up with a proposal on how the EUMA can be expanded. The decisions of the European Commission, in turn, must be ratified by the 27 EU member states.